In an increasingly technological society, there is a social need for designing communication technology around the perceptual abilities and cognitive strategies of people. A growing demand for information has created additional pressure on emerging communication technologies to provide electronic alternatives to the printed page. Design depends upon contributions from engineering and computer science, experimental and applied psychology, and graphic art and typology. A common, underlying theoretical assumption is that the reading of an electronic text may be influenced by characteristics of its visual presentation. Theory should converge on issues affecting readers of both the printed page and the electronic display. The features of a theoretical framework for research on the electronic book are the reading environment; the relationship between the author and the reader; and the readability of the text, its characteristics as a visual medium, and the reading level of the reader. In developing electronic books, a system is needed for research to examine relationships between textual material, communication technologies, and the psychology of readers. Twenty-nine references are listed. (Author/LMM)